The-Leader_1976-01-08

              FREEPORT
BALDWIN
ROOSEVELT
MERRICK
THE
ElbEMnO'iclR- PARS
EAST I^EACO<V-. {{ Y 115:34 •
FREEPORT'S
oPFicini
NEWSPAPER
40th YEAR. No. 37 FREEPORT. NEW YORK, JANUARY 8. 1976 PRICE: 15^ PER COPY
mm
o™ Survey Of Residents, Board Agree
;i:™.r^S* ""•'S-'»"'T»» High
by Linda Steinberg
and James Moriarty
FREEPORT—The poll of 25
merchants on South Main Street,
taken by these writers ex-
FREEPORT — At the start of the Village hearing. Monday night
to discuss publicly the 1976-77 Village budget, Mayor William
White told the almost 175 residents present 4hat he is calling a
special meeting of the Board of Twslees, the Treasurer and the
Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, Stanley Brekne, to discuss
'more cuts.in the budget. The
dusively—foix-THS-LEADER,—meetlngr-to-be-heJd-later-thl»-
NUTRITION CENTERS OPJEN, Cutting the ribbon «td«dication
' ceremonies opening the-tNa'sssu County Department of Senior Citi­zen
Affairc-two'nisw Nutrition Centers In Freeport is.County Com­missioner-
Adelaide Attard. The two Centerv^sponsored localty by
ths'Sahfation.Army.'are'Jn.tiie Salvation Army Building, on Church
.. Streei~OTd.the:Sethel.A^M.£^'ChtI^ch, on NoflA Main.Street At the
dedication: were (I. to r.) Capt Robert Reelj>f. the- freeport Corps
-' SalfahioW'Army; V\nifred MorihrFnei^^^
" "Lt. Coh Waiter Frendv-DiwJ'onal CommariderVof SalVaftioh Army;
:.^Attard; Dr. William A. Muldrow, Presiding Elde'ri^Bethel A.M.E;
Church; and. Rev. S.-Frank Emmanuel, Pastor of-Bethel A^M.E.
••• CHureh.-\:,''-.••-;.-. ^ •'/ : '-"' V- V. -." '"
Freeport Senior Girl Scouts
/ Wn LlRtt6ec^^
JAMAICA —Freeport Girl SCODI Senior Troop 2453 received
'. a first prize, it'was anncwipced this'we^ in the Long Island Rail
: Road Seventedith Annuali^day Station Decorating Contest. Awards
, were-presCTted in threevViategories: Garden Qubs, Community
Graips and LIRR Station Employes. The Freeport Scout's $100
first prize was iJB tfae«)nununity
group v:category for .... this
-geo^I&ical ar^.-Girl -Scouts,
as winners, dominated the entire
category with a Stewart Manor -
Troop and a Brentwood Brownie
troop placing first in their, par:
ticular areas. The Freeport
Senior Scouts won first prize over
the " Copiague Community
Council's second,- a Lindenhurst
Cub Pack's third, and various
.Honorable Mention awards. •
Mrs. .Tina Prtlerino, the adplt
advisor of.the^group of J4ihrDUgh_
' 17 year old Senior Girl Scouts,
was delighted with the troop's
award, as she said "We've tried -
for six'years and finaDy made the'
grade." Her troop had come in
second place several timra in the
past-
The decorations, aH designed
and executed by the" girls
themselves, have graced the
station house in Fre^xnt during
- the .EntirB_hoiiday. season and
when viewed, :over this past
weekend, were in the same
- bright, sparkling condition as
when first hung. The girls,
decorated—an the walls with
holiday scenes, for both
Christmas and Chanukah. and
decorated a Christmas tree,
donated By. Atlantic Nursery and
Garden Shop, in a Bicentennial
theme:^
• The Scouts, wtio thdr advisor
described as putting in "such a
tremendous effort this year,"
were Ann Basalone, Dina Combs,
Donna Edwards, Caryl Emra,'
Sue Harbauer. Bonide Heller, ..
Nancy Lainb, Cindy. Lamb,
Carrie Long, Linda X^mg,.
Elizab^h MacLennan, Ddibie
•Nolan, Diane Nolan,' Susan
Faturao, P^gy Smith. Patty
Smith and Lizzy Smith. Tliey were
also assisted by Jai Jai Jones, a
former Scout member who has
been working with Mrs. Pet-terino.
' ' • . •
An the decorations w^ere made
•from materials provided by iht
Scouts thraisrfves, brought from
"home "or purdased l^ thrai
. individually. The prize money
will be used for the Troop's future
camping" trips.
Hearing On
Price Marking
MINEOLA — A public hearing
on a proposed regulation to
"require snpennarketsto continae
marking prices "conspicuously,
plainly and cleariy'^on individual
' items will be held in Mineola,
Wed., Jan. 14, 9:30 am.
Nassau Consumer Affairs
Commissianer James Pickens
- explained tliat "We are intent OT
adopting this regulation before
the universal—product code
scanning systems come into
Nassau, but we must give
supermarkets as weQ as con­sumers
a chance to be heard."
At a bearing in September,
'. (Confinued'onPageT)
indicated that Freeport's retail
businesspeople are over­whelmingly
In favor.of an Off-
Track Betting facility in this'
village..
.As reported last- week,.,
residents and non-resident
shoppers. In Freeport are almost
evenly divided (»the issue (with
a slight edge going to those -who
favor 0TB -in .Freqxart.) As
recent as. six months 'ago, - the
; gr.eat -.majority •• -ot- ^those
qtJKStfaned were'strong^y against
0TB coming fiito thisvfllage.
Amajority.rf merchants polled
in tliis survey (84%) are also in
. favor of the proposed shopping
mall being considered for South
Main Street
Of the merchants interviewed
along South Main Street, 88%
favored the opening of a Freeport
0TB office... most of them ex-prrasing
the feeling that (yiB
'would.bring new liusiness.td the
Village's declining business
district... and in no way hurt it
Some of the merchants who
opposed 0TB in Freeport feared
it would bring. "undesirables"
into town and might actually Imrt
business.: One_ merchant
predicted that sbopliftlhg would
increase if 0TB opens up. Other
merchants complained that there
was a lack dl adequate paridng
on Main St, They fdt that people
using" OTB would be taking
paridng spaces normally used by
their regular customers.
On the Man .
Most of tiie merchants in­terviewed
felt that with reference
- - to tlie proposed man.-'sntnRthing-drastic"
had to be done to
revitalize Freeport's business
.district Their Inggffit concern
n-as tiiat of adequate paridng
being provided.
Most of the merciuints opposed
to the maU are located on the
"northern end of South Main St
Their greatest concehi is that
these stores, on the north part of
South Main St, vcfM not be part
of the man. Tlds, they said, would
put-"them out of business.
^(Editor's Note: All plans for the
prt^XEed Man include aU stxres
on South Main Street from
Sunrise Highway to Merrick Rd.)
Of the merchants responding to
the Leader's poU, 60% favored an
OTB Parlor in ihe, proposed malL
Tlie .40% opposed indicated that'
adding OTB to Jhe maU would
increase parking and traffic
problems.
OTB la LevittOTn .
As part rf it's investigation of
OTB, THE LEADER'S survey
"(Contiinied from Page 3)
week, win have as ita.';goal a
further redui^on of 10% in the
area of parks and recreation, by
reducing payroU tlurough .job
eliminations, less overtime and
part titae employment, fewer
progrards..and a reduction of
prograinmed-.ust-of•- the
RecreationOnter, the parks and
thesd«»ls.
While the printed budget
showed an increase, of 11,27 per
.1100. of ;assessed.valuation, the
Mayor h£] announce)'iasf week
that: a possible cictfing of.the
Recreation (Jenter for one day,
starting in June, would bring tMs
increase down a nickel, to a $1,22
increase, or a total tax of $10.25.
To£al costs \a Recreation and
(Xature. h) the tentative budget
distributed, " amounts to
$1,236,6S7. The closhig of the
Recreation (Tenter (to save an
estimated $35,000) would bring
tills amount to approximately
$888,687, which—with fringe
jbenefits—totals $1 mniion. To
I attain its goal, ttie Board would
liave to cut between $80,000 to
$100,000 more from those budget
lines.
Audience AgTiQ^ , •••.
Most oHhe taxpayers present"
were in agreement with the view
expressed try Mr. Scamhiacca, a
resident of East First Street, that
the expenditures at the
Recreation Center "are beyond
our m^ns." Scammacca caUed
for them to tie cut Ijy 50%
While Wliite touched upon
recreation in his opening
remarics. Trustee Wayne Jordan,
-who also-had—a—prepared-statement,
did not spedficaUy
deal with that line in the budget
Jordan stated that he did not feel
that the proposed budget was the
"bottom line, the absolute
minimum or best budget,"
although bs acknowledged that
the B^ird had worlied long and
bard on it
Jordan stressed that decreases
this year could only be minimal.
"There must tie a dunge in the
way the Freeport YiOage budget
is decided, disclosed to the puWic
and implemented," hs said. He
called for more public in­volvement,
particularly in
opening to the public the Beard's
eariy budget deliberations -Brith
department heads. He also
suggested that the Ijot^ej "no
bnger be fortaulatcd on a year-to-
year biasis," bet have "xrure
loi^ range piaming."
For specific charges, J<xdaa
suggested the transfer rf the
Village's Workmen's Con-peiisatibn
Icsuracce" policy from
the Hartford Insurance Coinpany
tn-t}re-State-Insurance-t?nndr10"
save, he said, $15,00O with no loss
of benefits. Mayor White's an­swer
was that this had been
discussed In previous sessions,
and liad been done twice before in
the VUlage's history, and that it
was a matter constantly
reviewed to-see if it Would save " "'
money. Jordan also suggested a
closing of the Freeport Stadium,
whlch.^he termed a "finandal
UablUty," ' T h e salfc bf ti\e
property, bp.dairaed.wcMild bring •'
II to $2 irilUibn; pliis the property
•would be .relumed ttx the tax
roles. White answered that this •
liad been discussed in, previous
years -and.that the cli'oice of a
iPurchaser should be selective. He
suggested that the ViUage mi^t
not need more Industrial Parks.
'Latier in the evening, James
•Brown, a Freeport resident of
. Lexington Avenue, told the Board
he would not lUte to see the
Stadium dosed. He pointed to its
beneflt for Freeport as an at­traction
and its possible use for
semi-pro football or basebaU
games,
Jordan also suggested a io% -
cut in the.Board's own salaries
•-(the Trustees each: draw $3500
annuaUy; the Mayor, t7,000), "to
let everyone know where we are
in terms of salary increases for
next year's budget" White called
that request the "lowest form of
political rhetoric" and later on in
the evening Trustee Dorothy
• Storm explained that, unlike the
Jordan famfly, hers was a pne-salaiy
famfly and herTiusband
bad pointed out that with the
- hours spent-and tlie-expenses-of -
the position, he soon might not be
nhleto afford aTrusfee as a \vife. -
In telling why he could not
approve the. proposed budget,
JoTian also cited the fact that
"some monies spent in this
budget are not property disclosed
to tJie taxpaying public," .He
specified the commission monies
paid to various insurance lirokers
and the contract with the
Freeport Fire Department.
Although- stating- that .the
Freeport volanteers are a
"supwior team", Jordan later
voted against the signing of this
coctract claiming that whfle he
Icew what the contract con­tained,
the public did not and that
the money spent was not audited
by the Board of Trustees. "My
criticism b aimed at the policies
set cp by the Board," he said,
although the ilayor explained
that tfaey were those Instituted
arid approved by the New York
Sute Beard of Audit and Control.
fCcntinued on Page 12)